Evidently, there is now a day for almost everything. Today is the day for my favorite office supply – Paper Clip Day! You could spend a while on Google looking at paper clip usages and meanings. Some early versions had a patent, but the current model seems not to have been patented at all. It has been in production at least since the early 1870s by the Gem Manufacturing Company. They are still sometimes called “gem clips,” and in Sweden the word for any paper clip is simply “gem.”
One use that I found interesting was the Norwegian symbolism as people wore a paperclip – a sign of resistance against Nazism and anti-Semitism. That account gave a disputed claim that the paperclip was invented in Norway. It became a war-time sign even though it might bring on an arrest. It has also been a symbol of inventive design. At other times, it has signified keeping things together or mental health promotion.
Various versions exist, but my favorite is the ordinary version, preferably in a large package of multicolored clips. Desk drawers in my house and she-shed have a stash, sometimes both inside and on top. My Arizona daughter-in-law gave me a treasure holder of polished wood with of 2-inches-tall by a 2-inch-circumference dimensions. I knew immediately that it would take its place on the nest table by my favorite chair and hold a stash of paper clips.
Sometimes, I use them for their regular function of holding sheets of paper together. Other times, they have entertained children who made them into a chain. My newest use puts them as color-coded markers for where I begin and end should I be asked to read a sample from my book.
Happy Paper Clip Day to you all!